The Marauder's Howler
by dragonpheonix19998
Summary: "At the rate he's going, he's going to break our record Padfoot." James commented, chuckling as he took the newspaper from Remus. "And that is no laughing matter," Lily snapped. "He is breaking the law!" Harry gets into a little trouble upon arriving at Hogwarts. A one-shot of Harry in his second year in an alternate universe setting where Lily and James are still alive.


**Hello everyone~ **

**I've been meaning to write a one-shot of Harry's life if he had not been the Chosen One since I saw this post on tumblr about Harry getting howlers from James and Lily after flying Mr. Weasley's Ford across half the country. Except that this time, Fred and George are with them on it. That would mean that Neville would have been the Chosen One instead and that would also mean that Harry would still have his parents and Sirius. He would have grown up in a loving home with a lovely family (including Sirius and Remus and somehow I don't see Pettigrew in this cozy knit because he would have gone over to Voldemort and the rest would have found out he betrayed them. Pettigrew might be rotting in Azkaban in this AU). I saw Harry as somewhat similar to James Potter yet, sometimes he is still as sweet natured as the Harry we see in the books. **

**I've given Harry a little sister because I don't think James and Lily would let Harry be an only child. There was a post on Tumblr that J.K. Rowling revealed in an interview that Lily was pregnant with another child when Voldemort came for a little visit on Halloween. Heart wrenching, I know! **

**Do enjoy this little oneshot! **

* * *

In a small kitchen of a small cottage at the end of the street in a village named Godric's Hollow, two dark haired men sat debating the Quiddich rankings that would be released at the end of the year. The man with round spectacles and messy hair tilted his chair backwards and shook his head at his companion. The current occupants of the cottage had returned home from Kings Cross station after sending the Potter children off to school. It was the first night since Harry's birth that there were no children about the Potter house and the two men were intending to make use of this opportunity to down a few Firewhiskeys.

"The Chudley Cannons are bound to finish last this year too." James Potter was telling his best friend, Sirius Black. "There is no point in betting whether they would win."

"Ah! But they might since—" Sirius was cut off by a shrill gasp from the next room.

"James Potter! Come and look at what your son has done!" Lily Potter (neé Evans) demanded from the Living Room where she was reading the Prophet. Just as she was about to stomp over to her husband, an owl had flown right into the house with a seal that was all too familiar.

Lily sighed as she opened it; she sat down to read the letter while rubbing her temples. Remus Lupin, the other Marauder, had walked over to Lily's side and picked up the discarded newspaper. Reading it, he suppressed a low chuckle.

James and Sirius were now standing in the doorway of the Living Room with gleeful expressions in anticipation what the oldest Potter son had done one his first night at Hogwarts.

"At the rate he's going, he's going to break our record Padfoot." James commented, chuckling as he took the newspaper from Remus.

"And that is no laughing matter," Lily snapped. "He is breaking the law!"

"Lily, school rules are meant to be broken." Reasoned Sirius as he read the paper over James' shoulder but a glare sent his way ceased all other comments that he was going to share with the occupants in the room.

"What kind of example is he going to be setting his sister!" Lily cried, thrusting the letter to James who was grinning excitedly at Sirius.

"Thank goodness she has enough of you in her to ignore him then." Remus placed a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder, trying to diffuse the tension that was building up rapidly.

"Lily, at least Dumbledore did not expel him." James tried to calm his furious wife.

"He could have been expelled! He could have been sent to the Ministry for a hearing!" Lily spluttered. "He broke the _law_ James! Not a school rule!"

"I know love," James conceded. "We'll talk to him when he gets back during Christmas."

"I'm sending him a howler now." Lily declared, grabbing a piece of parchment from the study table in the corner and enchanting it.

"I'll write it." James tried to pull the parchment from her grasp. Lily glared at her husband.

"No!"

"All right then, I'll write my own since you're too selfish to share." James headed over to study table and enchanted a piece of parchment.

"I'm going back now. It's getting late." Remus had muttered to no one apparently as both husband and wife were too busy enchanting their howlers to their son and Sirius was laughing silently in the corner.

And that was how Harry Potter got two howlers from his parents the next morning. James had used Sirius' owl, Govad, which was a faster flyer than the Potter' family owl, Malach. The Weasley owl, Errol, was perched atop a bowl of fruits, too tired to fly up to the owlery. The howlers from Mrs. Weasley was now in smoking shreds in front of Fred, George and Ron Weasley while a smirking Ginny sat smugly in the corner.

Hermione Granger, with wide eyes, was wordlessly warning Harry of his howler as Govad landed right beside Errol. Helena Potter, Harry's younger sister, eyed the owl wearily but she continued to eat her breakfast.

"You'd better open it and get it over with Harry." Came Ron's advice as Harry gingerly untied the letter from Govad's leg. Govad flew off instantly, a bad omen in Harry's opinion. The letter burst into life and announced James' disappointment to the entire hall.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" A long pause ensued and Harry sat in anticipation, wondering whether this was the final straw and James was going to lecture him on his brash actions. "WHAT A FEAT! AMAZING! YOU ARE TRULY WORTHY OF MY NAME! ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! YOU HAVE TO TELL YOUR GODFATHER AND ME ABOUT IT WHEN YOU GET BACK FOR CHRISTMAS. INVITE THE WEASLEY CHILDREN OVER TOO!" James paused a while, there were loud protests in the background. "Oh stop fretting Lily!" was heard in response and James could be heard to groan in pain. A loud thump followed by a bark of laughter and another deep voice shouting "YOU ARE TRULY WORTHY OF THE MARAUDER LEGACY HARRY!" before the howler ripped itself into shreds.

"I hate you Harry." Ron sighed into his bowl of cereal as Harry shook with laughter. Hermione shook her head disapprovingly. Helena rolled her eyes at her brother just as a tawny owl swooped into the Great Hall, bearing Lily's howler. Harry had sobered up instantly and Hermione had to help him untie the howler from Malach as he was twittering around nervously. The howler was like a time bomb and Malach had no intention of being caught within range of the explosion.

Explode it did. "HARRY JAMES POTTER! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISAPPOINTED WITH YOUR ACTIONS LAST NIGHT, ESPECIALLY AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE TAUGHT YOU! FLYING OVER THE BLACK LAKE AND THE BOATS THAT YOUR SISTER AND POOR GINNY WEASLEY WERE ON, YOU COULD HAVE RUN THEM INTO THE LAKE WITH THE CAR BY ACCIDENT! I HOPE YOU KNOW MR. WEASLEY IS FACING AN ENQUIRY AT WORK AND THAT YOUR BRASH ACTIONS HAS NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS ON EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE ENTIRE WIZARDING COMMUNITY. I WANT YOU TO WRITE AN APOLOGY TO THE WEASLEYS IMMEDIATELY! YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW THAT I AM NOT SENDING YOU SWEETS FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS AND WILL INSTRUCT YOUR FATHER AND GODFATHER TO DO THE SAME!" here Lily paused as there were protests in the background and a furious Lily casting muting spells on the other two inhabitants in the Living Room. "YOU WILL LEARN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND SET A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR YOUR SISTER. UNTIL YOU DO SO, THERE WILL BE NO OUTINGS TO THE BURROW FOR YOU."

"Well," Ron said twirling his spoon around his cereal, "I take whatever I said back mate."

"Helena, you're so lucky you're the youngest, you get away with everything!" Harry complained while Helena gave her brother a smug smile. "After all that I've done for you, you'd better share the sweets that Mum sends you." Helena shrugged her narrow shoulders. Ginny and Helena exchanged high fives and got up for class, ignoring the glares that their older brothers were shooting them with.

"What do you mean she gets away with everything? Helena was not involved in the flying car debacle. She was with Ginny the entire time." Hermione piped up, setting her Transfiguration textbook down (she was finally done with the entire syllabus for the year, as per normal).

"And did you see Ginny and Helena on the train yesterday?" Ron asked Hermione pointedly.

"Exactly." Ron took Hermione's silence as an answer. "Who else do we know would be insane enough to suggest stealing Dad's car in the first place?"


End file.
